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Saturday, December 24, 2011

It's certainly an appropriate day to share the covers of some copies of "The Night Before Christmas" that Sarah and I have around the house. The paperback version of the tale that's pictured above was published in 1964 by James & Jonathan1 and features illustrations by Nino Carbé2. (His name is incorrectly printed as "Niño Carbe" on the cover.)

Of course, it is stated on the cover that the famous nineteenth-century poem -- which largely defines our modern conception of Santa, his sleigh, his reindeer and more -- was written by Clement Moore. But this is a subject of some dispute.

Mel Kolstad of Ephemeraology writes: "I LOVE this card! We can think of it as analog Photoshop!"

Someone with the user name "Indiana Medical Insurance" writes: "Great idea. We have plenty of old pictures so I'm tempted to use some that are 10-15 years old. Maybe put everything in black and white as well."

(Note: If anyone attempts to replicate the sheer awesomeness of this card in the future, please send a copy to Papergreat.)

Mel Kolstad wrote: "What a gorgeous postcard, Chris! I wonder, though - may the grandaughter (sic) from Schuykill (sic) have possibly misspelled "Thomas"? She certainly doesn't have a great track record in spelling, at least judging by this postcard!"

Blake Stough of Preserving York wrote: "In the 1910 and 1920 United States Federal Census records, there are several 'Thomas' and/or 'Thomas J.' Miller's listed in Harrisburg, but none on Schuykill Street. There are also no "Thoma J. Miller" names listed in those years. As Mel mentioned, this may be meant to say Thomas."

I responded with: "Interesting, Blake. Appreciate the research. ... Were you looking up 'Schuykill' or 'Schuylkill'?"

Blake responded: "There was actually no need to look up an individual street name. In the census records for those years it lists the street names along the edge of the pages. The house number is usually included as well for each household."

I would have to agree that the most likely answer here is that this person's name is actually Thomas J. Miller. But I still enjoyed the tangental avenue I went down in researching the use of Thoma as a first name.

In addition, Bruce Thiel, the assistant news editor at the York Daily Record/Sunday News, added this fun anecdote: "My grandmother always made Jello salads at Christmas. One was strawberry, which was a hit. The other was lemon with shredded cabbage and carrots. It was an acquired taste."

Saturday's postcard: Sami girl and a reindeer: Mel Kolstad (who lives in Wisconsin) writes: "I had to laugh about the 'What's with all the dead deer photos?' part, because we have the same dilemma here! Deer hunting is HUGE but there is the faction who'd rather not see the hunters with their dead 'trophy'. We don't have ANY snow either! I'm crabby about it too, especially when I learned today that parts of TEXAS may have a white Christmas and we most likely won't. How is that fair?"

Manger scene at St. Mary's Episcopal School for Indian Girls: Justin Mann of Justin's Brew Review writes: "I love this post for so many reasons. First of all, I love that Sarah puts the figurines to bed. I also love that you intentionally left the footnote blank and followed up with a tertiary footnote. Third, I love that you posted the Food Center's Facebook page. I could go on, but mostly I want to tell you to keep up the great work!"

Yes, because it's the holidays and all, I wasn't going to bring up the scary clown in this 1971 photo of me (at right).

Somehow, I survived the childhood trauma of having my face inches from said clown. But now that the topic has been broached, here he is in all his glory (not exactly a vision of sugar plums dancing in your head):

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Thirty years ago today, in its December 22, 1981, issue, Family Circle1 announced the winners of its "Most Beautiful Christmas Tree" contest.

The winner and recipient of the $4,000 first prize was Gary Bowers of Elyria, Ohio. His tree is pictured at right.

Second prize went to Jean Lincoln of Somers, California, and third prize went to Mary Wilks of Verona, New Jersey.

This is how Family Circle described the contest:

"These splendidly decorated Christmas trees are the top winners in our December 1980 Christmas Tree Contest, sponsored jointly by Family Circle and American Tree & Wreath. Chose from over 22,000 entries, they reflect all the love and warmth of this joyous holiday season. We hope that these prizewinners will inspire you as you decorate your own 'most beautiful' Christmas tree."

The postcard also states that the school building appears in the background and that the school was founded in 1873.3

But does St. Mary's still exist? It does not. My search for information about the school took me first to a message board on City-Data.com. In December 2009, a woman started a thread seeking information on the whereabouts of an altar and cross that her grandfather had carved for the St. Mary's chapel.

It turns out that St. Mary's was closed (probably in the late 1980s) and turned into a privately owned detention center for male juveniles.4 But the altar and cross were saved and moved to an Episcopal church about 300 miles away in Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

One of the key figures in the history of St. Mary's was A.C. Kenyon Cull, who died in June of this year at age 90. He served as headmaster at the school from 1955 to 1985 and his life's experiences also included serving in the British Army with the Royal Corps of Signals and getting married in Jerusalem in 1946 and staying in a monastery guest house near the Sea of Galilee for his honeymoon.

Former students and administrators of St. Mary's remain in active communication through this Facebook page.

Footnotes1. Our family has a big collection of manger scenes, also known as nativity scenes, crèches and cribs. (This is in addition to our big Christmas collections of decorative nutcrackers, Irish ornaments and snow globes.) Here is a sampling of the nativity scenes in our living room:1

2. Going off on a photographic tangent, I became fascinated by the photo of Main Street in Springfield, South Dakota, on Wikipedia. I made this list of things I see in the photo: air siren; barn-like facade on a brick structure; office for NorthWestern Energy; office for Bon Homme Insurance; Boschma Law Office (with lovely white curtains in the window); Libby's Steakhouse2 (with banners for Bud Light, Libby's Casino and an indoor golf range); a MR. Golf Car Inc. store; a Doug's Food Center4 on the corner, which offers fresh produce and quality meats and has both Pepsi and Coca-Cola vending machines out front; and a lot full of golf carts, presumably belonging to MR. Golf Car Inc.

3. For the record, here's the other information on the back of this undated, unused postcard: "Kolorvue by Artvue Post Card Co., 225 5th Ave, New York, N.Y. 10010"
4. Sadly, another local school -- the University of South Dakota at Springfield -- was closed in the 1980s and turned into a state prison. Turning schools into prisons is not a wonderful course for our country.

Secondary footnote1. If you're wondering why all of the figures in the lower-left nativity scene, by Playmobil, are laying down, it's because my daughter, Sarah, had already "put them all to bed for the night" before I took this photo.
2. According to The Shadowlands' "Haunted Places in South Dakota," Libby's Steakhouse might be haunted. The website states: "It is believed the basement of this restaurant is haunted by a little girl, there has been only one sighting which was just a glimpse. If you leave the basement door open it causes stacks of soup bowls to fall over for no apparent reason. When you are actually down stairs you feel very uneasy and sometimes you will get 'tripped' going up the stairs. It is though she died of an overdose, the former building used to be drug store known as Hoch Drug."
3. [This secondary footnote intentionally left blank.]1
4. Doug's Food Center only has six "Likes" on Facebook. Help them out.

Tertiary footnote1. I just wanted to see how small the type would get.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Before getting to today's piece of holiday ephemera, let's continue the buildup to Christmas on Sunday with a couple of gratuitous photos of yours truly from Christmas 1971 in Montoursville, Pennsylvania.

In this first photo, I am riding some newfound transportation and -- no surprise -- checking out a book. It's "Pets and Pals," a board book published in 1970 by Western Publishing Company. This clearly set the stage for my later devouring of books by the likes of Theodor Seuss Geisel, Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, Edward Packard, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Stephen King and Alan Weisman.1

In the second photo, I have ditched my wheels and am checking out another early passion -- music. Given that it's 1971, I'm probably spinning either "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night or "Me and Bobby McGee"2 by Janis Joplin on my brand-new3 Fisher-Price Music Box Record Player.4

Now on to today's ephemera. It's something that I picked up at some sale or another over the past year, so I can't put any name or context to it. But it's kind of cool and in good condition.

Next to the colorful illustration on the front is the printed greeting:

May the bright cheer
Of Christmas tide
A lasting gift
With you abide

Below that, in pen, is written "Best wishes from Class 18." And below that, in pencil, is "1925." Was this card received in 1925 and sent from the Class of 1918? That's my best guess.

The back of the card, meanwhile, was used for some definitions that someone was apparently studying. Written in cursive is:

Footnotes1. Plus, of course, just a few authors in between.
2. Years later, some friends and I enjoyed changing this song to "Me and Willie McGee."
3. Apologies to Professor H.L. Williams and other guardians of the language.
4. Actually, 1971 is the year that this Fisher-Price record player was introduced, according to Perpetual Kid. Instead of Three Dog Night, its songs would have included "Edelweiss" and "Camptown Races."

Monday, December 19, 2011

Today's piece of ephemera is, possibly, the Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree1 of ephemera. It's sad, battered Victorian card with rips, stains and a few big chunks missing. It was never a very festive illustration in the first place. And there's not even any interesting writing on the back.

But, as Linus said, "I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."

So maybe we can give it a little love and point out some nice things about this old scrap of paper. I'll start:

You can't see it in the image, but the card still has some of its original glitter. There is glitter on the shell, the pink plant and the clouds in the background. Not bad for a card that's around 100 years old.

In the bottom-left corner, it states "W.B. & O. New York." The only identifying text on the card at least gives us a clue to start from in finding out more about this piece.

The scripted message on the card, which stated "Accept my Christmas Greeting(s)" before a chunk was torn out, really looks wonderful. You don't see elaborately detailed script like that any more, in this age of computer fonts and typography.

It is a rather lovely Christmas ... shell.

That's what I have. What can you do, gang, to heap some more love on this not-so-bad piece of ephemera that just needs a little love?

"We produce each issue of Smart about two months before it hits your mailbox, so we’re always off by a season. It leads to some interesting challenges, and I learned that I need to work a year ahead if I want Smart to reflect the appropriate seasons. This means I have to find beautiful homes decked out for the holidays now, so I will have Christmas decor2 in the holiday 2012 issue."

Kara was recently interviewing a York County interior designer for that 2012 holiday issue. That's when she made her ephemera discovery.

In an email, she writes: "[He] had these super cool lamps that look green when they're lit, but white when off. I asked him for information on them, and he pulled this tag from underneath the lamp. Oh, how I love hidden treasures! It's a book about the lamp and how to care for it. He had kept the books for each of the two lamps. ... (Unfortunately), we couldn't find any dates on them. He thinks they're from the '40s, but that was just a guess."

Kara's photo of one of the lamp tags is at the top of today's entry. And here's a peek inside one of the booklets:

Here are some things I tracked down about Rembrandt Lamps:

"The Sentinel's History of Chicago Jewry, 1911-1961" states that "among the largest manufacturers is the Rembrandt Lamp Corp. This company was formed in 1924 by Albert Witz, Louis Brosilow, and William Markoff, in a consolidation of two companies. Witz was president of Rembrandt from 1924 to 1931..."

John Chuckman's blog of Chicago nostalgia and memorabilia includes a circa 1930 advertisement for Rembrandt Lamps. The ad copy states, in part, "The industry's greatest line -- over 500 designs for selection covering every lamp requirement -- priced within the reach of all."

Here are side-by-side pictures of the Rembrandt Lamps Masterpieces lamp that the tag came from.

Much thanks to Kara for the cool ephemera find! Check out more nifty stuff on her Smart website.

Footnotes1. No, I have not finished my shopping yet. For me, it's still early.
2. Speaking of Christmas decor, our family recently took a drive and enjoyed some of the holiday lights -- including a house with its own radio station -- around York County. Joan writes about it in this Only in York County post.
3. Another web page detailing the Rembrandt Lamps Masterpieces trademark includes this line under "Consent": "The portrait forming part of the trade-mark is that of Rembrandt Harmanszoon van Rijn, deceased." They missed by one letter on the correct spelling of his name, which is Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.

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About the Author

I'm Chris Otto, a Pennsylvania resident and journalist whose hobbies and interests include old books, ephemera, history, folklore, alpacas, photography and much more. Never stop reading, learning and asking questions! I consider this blog to be a spiritual descendant of Microsoft Encarta and a companion to Wikipedia. Every piece of paper tells a story.
Reach me at chrisottopa (at) gmail.com.

As (kind of) featured in The New York Times...

Papergreat was mentioned in Stephanie Clifford's August 7, 2011, article in The New York Times titled "Shopper Receipts Join Paperless Age." Find out why, years ago, I held onto a receipt for a hot dog!

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